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MOUNT PALMER - PALMERS Find

Latitude 31° 24' S Longitude 119° 41' E

Mount Palmer is a townsite in the Yilgarn Goldfield, 415 km east of Perth and 46 km from Southern Cross. It is named after Mr A C "Daddy" Palmer who with W Colhoun and A R Pollard found gold in this area in 1934. It was referred to as "Palmer's Find" following the discovery of gold, and quickly became an important mining centre. When it came to gazetting a townsite here the names Palmer, Palmerdale and Palmerston were considered, but were all rejected because of duplication problems with other Australian towns. The Surveyor-General then suggested Mount Palmer, and this was the name used when the townsite was gazetted in 1935. The mine closed in 1944, and the town quickly ceased to exist. There is no feature named Mount Palmer in this area.

MOUNT PALMER by Mrs Forrester.

Squeak (Arnold) Pollard and Bill Colhoun (Water Supply Length Runners) used to do weekend prospecting on foot over hill, which is now Mt Palmer. Charlie Palmer (Augustus Charles Palmer) was prospecting around Never Never (Nevoria) and met Squeak on the pipe track from Nevoria to the main pipe line. Pollard and Colhoun gave him a job at £1 a week and tucker to prospect for gold in the area now Mt Palmer, where they had got a few colours.

Palmer found gold – pegged lease for Pollard and Colhoun and himself. He had to get some tools from Goldfields Water Supply and Winfield, Marklin and George Machin were made aware of the find and pegged alongside the original claim. The second claim proved to be the main one – turned out to be Mt Palmer. The first lease had low values.
 

After finding Mt Palmer A C Palmer had a show at Koolyanobbin with Bertie Beshman. Palmer was given £1500 Reward Claim money, which he kept and bought land in the Southwest. Palmer married a widow with two daughters who pre-deceased him.  He was born in the north of Ireland to Charles PALMER and Rachel FEVIAR and left there when young. Reportedly Palmer had shot Leopards in South Africa, worth 15/- a skin. He was at one time a good cricketer, a batsman.

He died from drinking water off slimes down at Toomey Hills neat Marvel Loch, WA in 1953. He had been warned of the dangers. He was about 68 years of age.

Mt Palmers Hotel - Photo SLWA